Learning to Fall
by ComicCreator And PBJ Bri
Summary: What if Harry wasn't the chosen one? What if it was the most unlikely person ever? And what if nobody, including Dumbledore, knew who it was when Voldemort did? And what if Dumbledore had a secret? One that could change someone's life! Rated T for safety.
1. Chapter 1

Yo!! PB&J here!! And this be meh fanfic.. It's present era. Completely AU because I don't like dead Marauders and Fred.. So that means..

Plot Changes!!

1. Harry ain't the chosen one, but everyone thinks he is  
2. Voldemort doesn't believe Harry's the chosen one and is trying to figure out who is  
3. Sirius never went to Azkaban, Wormtail never went to Ron instead he was to find Voldemort  
4. I don't know.. I just wanted a four..  
5. Everyone already knows Voldie's back because he accidently showed himself

This starts the summer before first year then it has some skipping, yes lots of skipping cuz everyone loves to skip, skip to the store skip to class it's fun!! Yea so it skips through to seventh year then the story really beings. So like for first year, basically just how Willow and the twins met, then every year will be skipped until seventh year.

One more thing, I do not now, nor will I ever, own Harry Potter. All I own is Willow and this plot. Along with stuff I make up.

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An old man walked down the street of Ottery St. Catchpole. He had a long white beard, long white hair, and bright blue eyes behind half-rim glasses. He was wearing a suit, making him look like a rich tycoon. He stopped infront of a large brick building with a sign on it saying 'Amelia's House for Girls'.

He checked an odd pocket watch before going up to the door and knocking. A few minutes later a slightly harrased looking woman answered the door. Her short blonde hair was flying in different directions and she had bags under her eyes.

"Yes?" She asked. Behind her you could hear cries from small babies, and toddlers, yells from older children, and comands from adults to be quiet or stop running.

"I'm Albus Dumbledore." The man said. "I have an appointment." The woman nodded and led him into the building. She led him to an office nearby. An hour later he exited the office with another woman. This one had dark curly hair that went to her shoulders, a motherly face, and was very young.

"Willow should be out back. I'll take you there." She was saying. Dumbledore offered his thanks, and the two of them went through a few hallways and out a door. They entered a large fenced area that was swarming with girls. Most of them were young, no older than seven. They were all wearing the same clothes, a red jacket, with a white button up shirt under it, a thin bow in the place of a tie, and a dark blue skirt. "That one's her." She said motioning to a girl climbing a tall oak tree.

Her blonde hair went down to her waiste, her bright blue eyes were switching from the tree to the younger girls. Her skin was slightly tanned from the sun. She was older than the other children, possibly age 10, maybe 11. As she was watching the others, a small girl fell off a swing. The younger girl began crying. Before any of the adults could move Willow had jumped/fell from the tree, scraping her knee, and had gone over to the girl.

"She's very caring." The woman said, watching Willow act silly to stop the girl from crying. "But she's also one of the eldest here. I do wish someone had adopted her." She shook her head slightly. "Willow." She called. The girl looked over, she had just helped the younger one back on the swing. "Could you come here for a minute?" As Dumbledore looked at the small girl sadness entered his eyes, though it was hidden slightly behind other emotions.

"Yes?" Willow asked coming over. She looked at Dumbledore quizically.

"This is Professor Dumbledore. He'd like to talk to you about attending a special school." Willow nodded. Dumbledore introduced himself. The woman led them back inside and up to Willow's bedroom. She left closing the door behind her. The room was quite plain, it was gray, had only one bed, and one window. In the corner was a wardrobe and on the window was a notebook. Dumbledore and Willow both sat on the bed.

"Miss Harte, I'm here to offer you a place at my school. It's called Hogwarts." Dumbledore said. he began telling the girl about Hogwarts, along with other things, such as how she became an orphane. Her mother was an auror and killed by a dark wizard called Voldemort, who had then tried to kill her as a baby, but she had disappeared.

She listened patiently. This was all extremely interesting. When Dumbledore stopped talking and handed her an envelope she took it and opened it. Inside was a list of books, among other materials, and a letter. She read through these before looking back at Dumbledore and speaking.

"I'll go, but, I don't have any money, or way to get to Diagon Alley or Kings' Cross." She said, remembering Dumbledore had told her about both places, and the fact she had wizard money.

"That's not a problem." He answered. "A wizard family lives nearby, I'm sure they'll be delighted to have you go with them, and stay the rest of the summer." He offered. She looked at him shocked. She had never left the building, except for trips and such. But it was never something solitary, or staying at someone's house. She nodded slowly.

"Alright." She agreed, standing up. Dumbledore also stood, and went to the door.

"I'll meet you out front in a few minutes, I'm going to talk to Ms. Amelia again and make sure it's alright for you to stay with this family." She nodded. he bowed slightly and left the room. Willow stood there for a few minutes before going over to her wardrobe and pulling out some clothes. She locked the door and pulled the curtains over the window before changing.

When she met Dumbledore outside she was wearing a green tee and jeans. Her hair was up with a green bow. Dumbledore smiled before starting to walk towards the edge of the town. She followed, with some difficulty since he took long strides.

After about an hour of walking, and of you asking questions which Dumbledore aswered, you reached a large house. It was leaning dangerous, and looked as if it could fall at any moment. Scattered throughout the yard were chickens, along with some potatoe-looking creatures.

They went up to the house and Dumbledore knocked on the door. Willow could hear yelling inside, then it stopped and someone came over to the door. It swung open revealing a portly, motherly woman. Her hair was red, her brown eyes were filled with anger, but quickly went to joy as she saw Dumbledore. She moved aside to let them in.

"Dumbledore! This is a pleasent surprise. Come in please." She said. Willow grabbed Dumbledore's sleeve as they walked inside. The inside of the house was just as interesting as the outside. All over there were odd things. Like the fact that a sweater was kitting itself! And a clock, instead of two hands and numbers it had nine hands and sayings like 'traveling', 'at work', 'home' and even 'mortal peril' around the edges. Each hand was inscribed with a name. The woman looked down at Willow curiously before looking back up at Dumbledore.

"Molly, this is Willow Harte." He said. "Willow this is Molly Weasly."

"Hullo." Willow said. she clutched Dumbledore's sleeve tighter. It wasn't that she was shy, she was just unsure of what to do. Normally when she met adults it had been to see if they wanted to adopt her. This time it was just to meet them.

"Hello dear." Mrs. Weasly said with a smile. She led them into the kitchen where two boys were washing dishes. Their hair was the same shade of red/orange as their mother's, along with eyes. They also looked identical, down to the last freckle.

"If I could talk to you alone?" Dumbledore asked glancing at the children. Mrs. Weasly nodded.

"Fred, George," the twins looked over at her. "This is Willow. Why don't you show her around?" They quickly agreed and dropped their dishes. Willow slowly let go of Dumbledore's sleeve and walked over to the two boys. One of them mutter a quick 'let's go' and the three of them walked out of the house and to a garden.

"So I'm Fred." One of the boys said as they stopped under a tree. "And that's George." George waved.

"I'm Willow."

"Are you a witch?" George asked. Willow nodded. "How old are you?"

"Eleven."

"So are we!" Fred exclaimed. "So are you going to Hogwarts?" Another nod. "What house do you want?"

"Gryffindor." Dumbledore had told her about all four houses. Gryffindor sounded the most interesting to her. Plus the common room was in a tower!!

"Hey so are we!" They said together. An hour passed of the three of them talking while Mrs. Weasly and Dumbledore talked. By the end of the hour it had been decided that Willow would share a room with Ginny for the rest of the summer, Dumbledore had given Molly a key to Willow's vault at Gringott's. So Willow would get school supplies with them and then board the Hogwarts Exspress also.

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Just one more thing, three horizontal lines means start or end of story, one means sometime later or someplace else


	2. Chapter 2

**Oh, no Umbridge in this story. Sorry Umbridge lovers. Do you people exist? Seriously, if you're an Umbridge lover please tell me.**

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Six Years Later

"Did they have to give me a different uniform?" Willow mutter to herself, looking at the outfit she was wearing. For the past 17 years she had been wearing a red jacket, white shirt, and dark blue skirt. Now though the orphanage had decided since she was an adult by wizard standards she would have to wear a different outfit. Instead of a red jacket and white shirt she had to wear a red tee, she didn't mind that. What she did mind was the skirt. It was the same color, but it was much shorter. She pulled it, trying to make it stretch out a bit. Apparently the change in the outfit meant she could leave anytime she wanted.

"Willow!! Look!" A small girl yelled. Willow looked up from her skirt yanking and watched the little girl get the kite up in the air.

"Great job Nora." She said with a smile. She bent down to lean against a wall. She was watching the girls run around and play and junk. Later today she was also planning on finally leaving this place and going up to the Burrow.

"Nice skirt." A voice said behind her, while someone else laughed slightly. Willow blushed, stood up, turned around and pulled on her skirt again all in one motion. She was staring at Fred and George Weasly. Fred was bright red, and George was laughing. "I've always wondered what your uniform was." Fred said.

"Oh ha ha." Willow said, rolling her eyes. "What are you two doing here?"

"Well since it's your 17th birthday we figured we'd come and kidnap you and hang out with you." George said, finally calming down. She shrugged.

"Alright. Just let me go change." She walked past them and into the building. Now bet right now you're thinking 'what about Harry?' well just so you know, by now everyone's realized Harry isn't the chosen one. Though nobody's sure who is. However Voldiepants still used Harry's blood to come back to life. Just cuz at that time he didn't know about the, well forget that for now.

"So where are we going?" She asked, fifteen minutes later as the three of them walked around the small town.

"Home." Fred said with a shrug.

"Can we apperate? I've walked up to your house enough times." They laughed and agreed. They walked down an alley, waited for all the muggles to be out of sight before apperating. They reappeared in front of the large house. She didn't move as the twins walked forward. They both stopped and looked at her quizzically when they realized she wasn't moving.

"What?" Fred asked, his hand on the door.

"This isn't going to be some surprise party is it?" She asked hesitantly.

"Why would you think that?" George questioned. "Can't we just bring you home on your birthday?"

"Oh gee I wonder." She said sarcastically. "You've had a surprise party for me multiple times in the last seven years." It was true. Every year on her birthday they would throw her a surprise party, and sometimes on just plain days.

"Fine it is a surprise party." They said together. "But at least act surprised, for Mum." Fred pleaded. Willow rolled her eyes and agreed. Together they went inside, and then out the back door to the garden. As she entered, everyone jumped out of nowhere yelling happy birthday. And by everyone, I mean everyone. Ginny, Ron, Charlie, Bill, Percy, Harry, Hermione, Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Shacklebolt, Mr. Weasly, Mrs. Weasly, Mad-Eye Moody, and even Dumbledore.

**(A.N. Okay just so everyone knows, yes I do realize that everyone should be at Headquarters, however like about three minutes ago I realized that and I'm far too lazy to change it so as of this moment right.... NOW, the Burrow is Headquarters.)**

Willow did her 'OHMIGAWD!! A SURPRISE PARTY?!' thing, then proceeded to say hi to everyone while Mrs. Weasly went to go make dinner. As Willow walked around with Fred and George, talking about ideas for a joke shop, she felt someone watching her. She turned and saw Dumbledore.

'_Why is it every time he looks at me his eyes are sad?'_ She asked herself. And it was indeed true. Every time he looked at the girl his eyes, though they still twinkled, were sad. She shook her head slightly and turned back to the twins. "What about someplace near Knockturn Alley?" She suggested for location. "The buildings there are cheaper. Plus if it's too small we can just enlarge it with magic."

They agreed, just as Mrs. Weasly came back out with lunch. Everyone sat down, and began eating and talking. After about an hour of whispering joke ideas to the twins, and talking to those around you, Dumbledore, Lupin, Sirius, Mr. Weasly, and of course the twins, Mrs. Weasly brought out the cake.

It was really amazing. It had no real shape, but on it was a giant red 'G' for Gryffindor, and on and around it were other things like a magical creature or a match that turned into a needle and then back, along with other things Willow liked. After the cake was present time. Of course Willow was going to save certain presents for last, like Fred and Georges' and Dumbldore's.

From Remus, Bill, Hermione, Percy and Ron she got books, Remus and Bills' were both on advanced Transfiguration, Hermine's was a mix of all subjects, Percy's was on prefects who had moved on to great things, she was never going to read that she wasn't even a prefect, and Ron's was teaching about how to make magical joke items that already existed, but it would be good to figure out how to improve the items. Harry had given her a broom, not a Firebolt of course, but a Nimbus , a photo album with pictures of her and her friends in it, Moody, a foe-glass, Sirius gave her a knife that could cut anything and unlock anything much like what he gave to Harry last year. Tonks had gone and bought a book about magical creatures, Charlie gave her a dragon claw for good luck, Mr. and Mrs. Weasly had bought her a watch, saying it was traditional for both witches and wizards to get watches on their 17th birthday.

**(A.N. I made up the watch part cuz I wasn't sure what witches got, also I forgot when Harry got his knife but I think it was in the fourth book..)**

Finally it was time for Dumbledore's. As Willow opened the box she was shocked to find, not one present but two. A put-outer, and an invisibility cloak. As she inspected the cloak she found that it was more like Harry's cloak, rather than Moody's.

Fred and George both told her their present had to wait. It made Mrs. Weasly slightly suspicious but she let it go. By this time it was starting to get late. Everyone said good-bye as everyone except the Weasly's left.

"Come on." Fred said grabbing Willow's hand and pulling her towards the house.

"We'll give you our present now." George added. Willow agreed and followed them up to their room. Sitting next to the window was a bird. But it wasn't any ordinary bird, it wasn't even an owl. Its feathers were a mixture of gold and scarlet, favoring the gold. She stared at it shocked for a moment before turning to the twins.

"You got me a phoenix?" She asked shocked. "How?" They smiled, overjoyed that she liked it.

"Well it took a while. We've been looking since the start of summer." Fred started.

"But eventually we found a witch in China whose phoenix had just laid an egg that she was willing to sell." George said.

"So we bought it, and waited patiently for it to hatch." Fred finished. "But she doesn't have a name yet."

"Well I absolutey love her." She said hugging them before going over to the phoenix, who moved from the window to her shoulder. "What should I name her?"

"Name her Kiwi." Ginny said. They all turned to look at her. She had snuck into the room without their knowledge.

"Why Kiwi?" George asked. Ginny shrugged.

"It's cute." She answered.

"I like it." Willow said. "Thanks guys." She said again, hugging them once more before going to the room she would be sharing with Ginny like every year. At the party Dumbledore had handed out their school letters, so the only question would be who was teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts.

A few hours later, after Mrs. Weasly had made everyone go to bed and Willow was sure Ginny was asleep she crept down to Fred and Georges' room. She paused outside the door, hearing them talking.

"So why do you reckon Dumbledore came?" George asked. Although they were identical, and they sounded the same, somehow Willow had always been able to tell the difference between Fred and George.

"No idea." Fred answered. "Could have been just to have some cake."

"Then why would he give her his put-outer?" That was a good question. "He would have only given her it if he knew she would need it at some point. The same with the invisibility cloak."

"You don't suppose Dumbledore thinks she could be the chosen one do you?" Willow almost laughed at that. There was no way she could be the chosen one.

"Nah." George said, a slight chuckle in his voice. "There's no way she would be the chosen one.."

"Hey!" Willow exclaimed angrily. Why couldn't she be the chosen one? She was just as strong as George. There were noises from inside the room and Fred opened the door.

"Were you listening in on us?" He asked half upset, half impressed. He moved so she could come in before closing the door.

"Well I wasn't at first. I was just coming down to see if you guys knew why Dumbledore showed up and heard you guys talking." She said sitting on Fred's bed. "So remind me, why can't I possibly be the chosen one?" She asked glaring at George slightly.

"Well I was only meaning, if you were the chosen one He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would be after you, wouldn't he?" He said.

"Plus, even if you were the chosen one there's no way you'd be able to kill him." Fred added. She had to admit they were both right. Voldemort would be after her, if he knew. And she couldn't kill a spider much less a person, if he was a person still.

"I guess you're right.." She muttered after a bit. "So why do you think Snape went with Confronting the Faceless?" She asked grabbing Fred's booklist. The twins both went 'what??' and came over to me looking at the list.

"No mate, that's the Defense Against the Dark Arts book." George said after a couple seconds.

"Yea I know. Slughorn's teaching potions. Dumbledore offered him his old position. He taught potions. Which means Snape's getting Defense Against the Dark Arts." She explained. "But I would have gone with a different book if I were him. Maybe A Compendium of Common Curses and Their Counter-Actions, or The Dark Arts Outsmarted, Jinxes for the Jinxed, or even Self-Defensive Spellwork. Though I guess the last two wouldn't be too good for Hogwarts." She said, mostly to herself.

"Wait. Dumbledore's letting Snape teach Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Fred asked, obviously he had not been listening to the last part. He was still in shock from Snape teaching something other than potions. "That's just not fair." She looked up at the two. The look on their faces made her burst out laughing. It was just a funny expression.

"Well whatever." She said standing up. "I'm going to bed. Night." She kissed them both on the cheek before scampering out of the room. She had done that before many times, but this time something was different. Butterflies were playing in her stomache and her heart was making it seem like she had just ran a mile. What was going on?! She shook her head as she climbed into her bed and drifted off to sleep.


End file.
